Trace Adkins Drops SeaWorld Performance Amid “Blackfish” Controversy

Add Trace Adkins to the long list of musicians who have already dropped their shows at SeaWorld. While it was originally just the animal activists fighting for the treatment of the whales, everyone is starting to join in, and realizing how poorly the orcas are treated while in captivity.

Amid the controversy surrounding the theme park since the release of the groundbreaking documentary Blackfish, it seems that no musician wants to have their name attached to SeaWorld anymore.

Trace Adkins’ performance is different than the original series of scheduled shows that had seen big time names such as Willie Nelson, Martina McBride and several others cancel. Those musicians were all a part of SeaWorld’s “Bands, Blues and BBQ” series that currently has no musicians scheduled to play anymore.

The mass strike from the musical acts from SeaWorld’s calendar began soon after CNN’s broadcast of the documentary Blackfish in October.

While in some cases, documentaries are embraced by a small crowd and are not given much mainstream attention, Blackfish has worked at great lengths to change the minds about how people all over the country view SeaWorld, prompting people to want to have it shut down.

In a statement that was sent in an email from a representative of Trace Adkins’ to CNN, it was reported that “Trace prefers that the focus of his performances be on music, not on controversy. Therefore, he has decided not to proceed with this show in the midst of this debate.”

Blackfish is a documentary that tells the story of the killing of a SeaWorld trainer in 2010. It also helps to raise questions about the safety and humaneness of keeping the killer whales in captivity, in addition to how they are captured in the wild.

Celebrities have continued to speak out, with singers refusing to perform and several actors have seen the film, and then taken to social media outlets to tell everyone else to do so, and to avoid SeaWorld.

Trace Adkins has made a bold move in joining several other musical acts in refusing to have their name attached with SeaWorld due to the power that Blackfish has had. How many more of these cancellations will need to happen in order for the park to be shut down for good? Will it happen?